NationStates Jolt Archive

How many of you are organ donors? Full or partial? If you're not why not? I ask because I've been running MVRs (Motor Vehicle Records) on our drivers and I'm frankly shocked that most of them aren't donors of any sort.

Way I figure it, I'll be dead, not like I'll be using the damned things.

I got the card ages ago to impress chicks

it doesn't work too well...

Nah.

I'll give the most generic and used reason:

"I came into this world with my organs, and I'm leaving with them."

I'll give the most generic and used reason:

"I came into this world with my organs, and I'm leaving with them."

Yup.

I'll give the most generic and used reason:

"I came into this world with my organs, and I'm leaving with them."

Not if one or more of your organs fail. Then you'll be leaving with someone else's who didn't share your opinion.

Nah.

Why not? Lack of organs ain't gonna kill you if you're dead.

Why not? Lack of organs ain't gonna kill you if you're dead.

'cause I don't want my body mutilated after I die.

My family knows that anything useful that is left after I vacate the premises is up for grabs.

If anything I leave behind is useful to someone else, I think that is terrific! And whatever is left after any useful bits are removed, I want donated to science or to a medical school.

I figure that once I am out of my body, what is left is doesn't mean anything to me anymore, so someone else might as well get some help from it.

Blood Donor
Bone Marrow Donor
Organ Donor (incl. Retinas, never knew why people get so possesive of these in particular)

My organs!

*hisses at poor child without kidneys*

'cause I don't want my body mutilated after I die.

I always figure once I punch out for the last time people can do whatever the hell they want. I'll have larger concerns, or not, depending.

I also plan on dying out in the middle of nowhere, so my organs wouldn't help anyone anyway.

That's Trollgaard you're talking to. You know how he is.

Anyway, I'm hoping that pretty soon organ donation will no longer be necessary. We'll simply grow new organs synthesized from our own DNA, with no possibility of rejection. Much easier than netting a donor.

That's Trollgaard you're talking to. You know how he is.

Anyway, I'm hoping that pretty soon organ donation will no longer be necessary. We'll simply grow new organs synthesized from our own DNA, with no possibility of rejection. Much easier than netting a donor.

Pretty soon is still, regrettably, pretty far away.

I don't think we'll have them capable of being synthesized from our own DNA within the next 20-25 years. Not to mention one has to wonder the cost of the sophisticated equipment required to grow new organs will probably be beyond the means of the uninsured (and probably also the insured, depending).

nobody in my family is. The girls and I have a disease that could be passed through organ donation and would likely kill someone who was already sick, and my husband is on medications that make his organs un-donatable.

None of us are allowed to donate blood or plasma either. :(

Pretty soon is still, regrettably, pretty far away.

I don't think we'll have them capable of being synthesized from our own DNA within the next 20-25 years. Not to mention one has to wonder the cost of the sophisticated equipment required to grow new organs will probably be beyond the means of the uninsured (and probably also the insured, depending).
We've already grown a heart valve from stem cells.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6517645.stm

'cause I don't want my body mutilated after I die.

Shhhhh, nobody tell him about decomposition!

Pretty soon is still, regrettably, pretty far away.

I don't think we'll have them capable of being synthesized from our own DNA within the next 20-25 years. Not to mention one has to wonder the cost of the sophisticated equipment required to grow new organs will probably be beyond the means of the uninsured (and probably also the insured, depending).

The initial equipment is liable to be quite costly, but I imagine that such equipment would become far cheaper as time goes on.

And, of course, there's always the nanotechnological alternative. Rather than replace, we repair.

I think it says "organ donor" on my driver's license... I'm not sure.

nobody in my family is. The girls and I have a disease that could be passed through organ donation and would likely kill someone who was already sick, and my husband is on medications that make his organs un-donatable.

None of us are allowed to donate blood or plasma either. :(

I'm not allowed to donate blood, but apparently organs are fine. Gaydiation you know.

We've already grown a heart valve from stem cells.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6517645.stm

I stand corrected.

I stand corrected.

I wouldn't stand so quickly if I were you. Replicating a heart valve and an entire heart are two very different things. And what about the functionality of that heart? What about compatibility? How long will that heart last? How easy is it to transplant? And so on and so forth.

Pretty soon is still, regrettably, pretty far away.

I don't think we'll have them capable of being synthesized from our own DNA within the next 20-25 years. Not to mention one has to wonder the cost of the sophisticated equipment required to grow new organs will probably be beyond the means of the uninsured (and probably also the insured, depending).

And another issue would be acute organ failure. If we're talking about someone with kidney or liver disease that has been ongoing for a while - and can be dealt with medicinally for a while - we might be able to tissue engineer an organ with their particular DNA. However, no matter how good we get, cells only grow so quickly, and it would be a time consuming process. In an acute case of organ failure, we simply wouldn't have the time.

Now, if we can ever get around organ rejection without a need to suppress the immune system, we might be able to grow off-the-shelf organs that anyone - or maybe particular blood types - could use.

You are correct, however, that this is years - probably decades down the road.


We've already grown a heart valve from stem cells.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6517645.stm

Similar studies (although not always with stem cells) have been ongoing for quite a while now. Unfortunately, no one has actually been able to match the mechanical properties of a native heart valve or create a tissue engineered valve that functions as well as an artificial one. We're working on it, but we aren't there yet.


As to the OP, I am an organ donor. I expect them to take any organs that can be used for donation, give anything else useful to science, and cremate anything still there.

I plan to donate my body for the training of medics and/or scientific processes. I think there is an official site about it, but can't remember what it is, I should probably actually fill in the documentation some time rather than just inform my friends and family.

I'm probably going to get a donor's card when I get my license renewed in December.

I figure, if I'm going to die of alcohol poisoning the weekend of my 21st, someone should get to make the most out of the rest of my organs (the rest meaning all but my liver).

Every now and then, you hear a story about an elderly person who died because their body couldn't handle the strain of the overly active heart they got from some 21-year-old. Multiply that by 100 and you'll see why Dragons are a poor choice for transplant donors.

'cause I don't want my body mutilated after I die.

Glad my sister in law wasn't relying on you when her kidney function crashed below 15% and she needed dialysis three times a week. With a IV port on her collarbone. Those things get infected if you look at them funny! Luckily, redwulf matched, and now he has a pretty scar and one less kidney.

nobody in my family is. The girls and I have a disease that could be passed through organ donation and would likely kill someone who was already sick, and my husband is on medications that make his organs un-donatable.

None of us are allowed to donate blood or plasma either. :(

That sucks. I need to check if they'll take my blood now - I had ideopathic jaundice awhile back, and they don't like liver problems in potential donors.

Fuck organ donation, I wanna be a biomechanical man.


In other news, when I expire I couldn't give a damn what happens to my body. I'd like to think the ending would have a 'boom' of sorts with nothing remaining, but there's always the possibility otherwise; in which case throw me to the dogs... or doctors.

It's my wishes to be kept on life support, fully anesthitised (lol spelling), whilst everything is used asap. All organs, arteries, veins, skin, just as much as can be used.

I think basic organ donation should be standard with an opt-out system (No reason needed), but anything as extreme as my wishes has to be specifically requested.

Prisoners should be guilted into doing what I want to, if they refuse, just the basic.

By anesthetic, I mean like, 14x the anesthetic dose of morphine, no chance of feeling it. Preferably dead and mechanically alive until everything is taken.

I plan to have my body cremated anyways so I am a donor, and I actually want to donate my body to science because it really is somewhat of a medical oddity.

Prisoners should be guilted into doing what I want to, if they refuse, just the basic.

I can see this turning into some twisted form of H.P. Lovecraft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Re-Animator).

I don't have a problem with donating organs, but I don't expect to die any time soon and I don't want to spend much time thinking about removing my organs. That's why I don't have a card... yeah it's a pretty stupid excuse, but it probably applies to a lot of people.

I don't have a problem with donating organs, but I don't expect to die any time soon and I don't want to spend much time thinking about removing my organs. That's why I don't have a card... yeah it's a pretty stupid excuse, but it probably applies to a lot of people.

And such people are the reason I advocate an opt-out system, rather than an opt-in one. Most people who aren't organ donors don't really have a problem with their organs being donated if they die. They simply don't give much thought to it and won't take any action to ensure that it happens. With an opt-out system, as long as it was simple for someone against it to opt-out, there'd be many more organs in the system.

I am, I don't reckon they're going to do me much good when I'm dead.

I know it's selfish, but I want my body all in one piece...I might eventually get it together to give blood one day...now that I'm eligible.

Full organ donor. If I'm dead, I'm pretty sure I won't be needing them. I'd probably give them away if I didn't need them.

I did not really read many of the replies in this thread, but one caught my eye saying something along the lines of compulsory organ donation. I would be completely against such a thing, but anyway.. onto the question:

personally I am not an organ donor, just a paranoid quirk I guess. I have the gut feeling (no pun intended) that if I'm labeled an organ donor I will not receive the same determination of revival as someone who is not, for want of organ harvesting. Paranoid I know, but it's something that always pops up in my mind when I consider donating. On a different note though, I have absolutely no problem with giving blood, which I've tried on one occasion, but my temp was too high to give blood. I plan on trying again as soon as I have a bit of free time.

How many of you are organ donors? Full or partial? If you're not why not? I ask because I've been running MVRs (Motor Vehicle Records) on our drivers and I'm frankly shocked that most of them aren't donors of any sort.

Way I figure it, I'll be dead, not like I'll be using the damned things.

I'm with you there. Don't see any point in having a bunch of non-functional organs in my body when other folks can use them just fine.

I'll give the most generic and used reason:

"I came into this world with my organs, and I'm leaving with them."

But when you're dead, youve left the world already, what remains is just decaying matter. Why can't someone else use your decaying matter?

How many of you are organ donors? Full or partial? If you're not why not? I ask because I've been running MVRs (Motor Vehicle Records) on our drivers and I'm frankly shocked that most of them aren't donors of any sort.

Way I figure it, I'll be dead, not like I'll be using the damned things.


I'm not, I'm not a driver so I've never gone through the trouble to get a card, but my family knows my wishes (to donate). When I get my drivers liscenes I'm planning on being a donor.

I did not really read many of the replies in this thread, but one caught my eye saying something along the lines of compulsory organ donation. I would be completely against such a thing, but anyway.. onto the question:

personally I am not an organ donor, just a paranoid quirk I guess. I have the gut feeling (no pun intended) that if I'm labeled an organ donor I will not receive the same determination of revival as someone who is not, for want of organ harvesting. Paranoid I know, but it's something that always pops up in my mind when I consider donating. On a different note though, I have absolutely no problem with giving blood, which I've tried on one occasion, but my temp was too high to give blood. I plan on trying again as soon as I have a bit of free time.

Honestly, if I were a doctor, I might actually be put off by that attitude and subconsciously give a person who is unwilling to help others worse care. I certainly wouldn't think of harvesting organs from a person who was still viable as a living human being or even consider letting someone die just so that organs could be harvested, but would possibly be less interested in helping one who specifically refused to be an organ donor. Hopefully for you that is just me and no actual doctors think that way.

Honestly, if I were a doctor, I might actually be put off by that attitude and subconsciously give a person who is unwilling to help others worse care. I certainly wouldn't think of harvesting organs from a person who was still viable as a living human being or even consider letting someone die just so that organs could be harvested, but would possibly be less interested in helping one who specifically refused to be an organ donor. Hopefully for you that is just me and no actual doctors think that way.

Too bad there's a thing called the Hippocratic Oath here :p

Lol im the idiot that is mentioned somewhere else in this thread ... when i got my driving licence im pretty sure i signed up to donate everything but my eyes/retina ..... figure on the off chance there is an after life if beheading etc stories are to be believed when you die the brain functions for up to 20 seconds or so after ... so brain and eyes equal yay the afterlife crap im now dead (but ive seen it just incase lol)

never ever donated blood but after reading you lot (and if this is bumped enough) i might be pestered/reminded into sorting it out and donating/regularly donating .... something ive wanted to do before even with my fear of needles but i got lazyitous and wrong place at the right time timing lol (it is something i wanted to do before)

(got to say after reading some of your posts though (and for no real reason) im a bit put off full/partial organ donation :confused: .. kept thinking hmmm they can chop your head off and freeze for when they can fix it on to a new body/clone or bring your old bod back to life)

I plan to donate my body for the training of medics and/or scientific processes. I think there is an official site about it, but can't remember what it is, I should probably actually fill in the documentation some time rather than just inform my friends and family.

If you say to your GP they can organise it

I got the card ages ago to impress chicks

it doesn't work too well...Perhaps the plural is the problem.
If you told them you'd donate your ORGAN for a while ...

Perhaps the plural is the problem.
If you told them you'd donate your ORGAN for a while ...

:D

When I'm dead, I'll be happy to give my organs to someone who needs them. While I'm alive, the laws in my country do not allow me to donate anything necessary to me. I think I can donate one of my double organs, although I would do this only for someone I know and love a lot - my wife or one of my nearest relatives.

I'm registered as an organ donor, and my wife and family are aware that I wish for any and all of my body to be made available to the medical profession when I die. All of it. I don't care if it's used for organ transplants, training, research or whatever... I wont be using it any more.

Of course, I'd prefer that my bits and pieces didn't end up being used in some kind of med student comedy routine but then again it's not like I'm going to notice, since I'll be dead ;)

A lot of people seem to have a knee-jerk revulsion to the idea of donating their organs when they die. Whether it's a kind of 'icky' response born of ignorance or some kind of religious objection it's something that I personally view as selfish. But that's just my opinion.

I already give of my blood, freely, and though nobody can say what state my body will be in when I take that final step over the threshold of mortality, I'm happy to provide a further legacy and my immediate family knows this (and vice-versa). I have a donor card (as it doesn't get marked on Driving Licences over here) though now you've made me think to check it's where I think it is.

You know, maybe by the time I die[1] they'll be able to use "everything but the squeal"? It could end up as a form of immortality.


[1] Or alternately, the same technique means that I won't die, but of course eventually that luck will run out...